Author: Jocke Hallberg

In my search for more Swedish born soldiers who are buried and commemorated at the Western Front, after have been fighting in the Great War, I have found seven more individuals. They will be remembered here and in my research database.

My method this time, to find these soldiers, was to manually go through the Americian Burial site, American Battle Monument Commission, ABMC.

I looked through the Scandinavian names, after had put in a filter, that only present those who are missing in action, and with my earlier experience, I could sort out those I thought were Swedish. I have earlier searched through those who has a casualty card, and I have found out that those who are missing in action doesn’t have a casualty card. That is the reason for filtering out those who are missing, as I already have the other Swedes, who have their own grave.

Most of the times I had right in my thoughts, but I also found quite many born in Norway and in Finland, or in Russia, that Finland belonged to back then.

It resulted in the finding of seven more individuals, but I can of course not rule out that it is more out there in those lists.

Below I will present the Swedes found in my latest search, together with some basic facts and documents.

Andrew C Carlson – Anders Kaleb Karlsson – Born December 7, 1887 in Landa parish in Hallands county. Andrew left Sweden in 1913 for North America. Andrew catched the Spanish Flu on the transport over to the battlefields in France, died and are buried in the Atlantic Ocean.

A. A Erickson – Axel Albert Erickson – Axel Albert Eriksson – Born February 17, 1892 in Vika parish in Dalarna county. Axel left Sweden in 1912 for North America. Axel fought for 2nd Infantry Machine Gun Battalion, 1st Divison, and was killed in the second battle of the Marne in France, July 21, 1918. Axel is on the Tablets of the Missing at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery In France.

Carl Goldstrand – Karl Eriksson – Born February 10, 1891, in Karlanda parish in Värmland county. Carl was called “Kulle Kalle” back home in Sweden. I have no facts about when or why he changed his surname to Guldstrand or in english, Goldstrand. Carl also probably died on the transport over to France, October 27, 1918, and is probably buried in the Atlantic Ocean. He belonged to the American Engineers. His name is on the Tablets of the missing at Suresnes American Cemetery, in Paris, France.

T. J Goranson – Theophil Joseph Goranson – Born September 11, 1885, in Ljungby parish, Kronoberg county, Småland. Theophil left Sweden with whole of his family in 1889. He grew up in the State of Montana. He left US for the battlefields in France with his unit 2nd American Engineers, 2nd Division. Theophil fought heavily under a huge German barrage and was wiped out together with his platoon, among other platoons. He was never found. He is noted on the Tablets of the missing at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France.

Esaias E Hagstrom – Esaias Eriksson Hagstrom – Born May 1st, 1893, also in Karlanda parish, Värmland county. Esaias left Sweden for North America in 1912. He probably moved in by his sister Mathilda, who left Sweden a couple of years earlier then him. I assume he used the surname Hagstrom after his sister’s husband after has looked on his census documents from North America. Esaias went over to the battlefields in France with his unit, American Infantry, 111th regiment, 28th Division. I havent found any connection to Goldstrand mentioned above, also surname Eriksson from parish of Karlanda. I will come back if I do. Esaias was killed in August 12, 1918, but was never found and is noted on the Tablets of the Missing at Oise-Aisne American Cemetery in France.

Folke Peterson – Folke Pettersson – Born April 22, 1889, in Edsele parish, Västernorrlands county, Ångermanland. Folke left Sweden for North America in 1909 and lived in Kansas. Folke went over to France with his unit, the American Engineers, 6th Regiment, 3rd Division in December 1917. Folke was a cook and he is noted to have been killed in March 28, 1918, together with another Swedish engineer, also in my database, Carl A Woline, an Engineer in the 1st Division. Folke is mentioned on the Tablets of the Missing at Somme American cemetery, France.

Carl J S Seaburg – Carl Johan Samuel Sjöberg – Born in December 3rd, 1886, in Hedvig Eleonora parish in Stockholm, Uppland. Carl left Sweden for North America in 1904, and lived in Gloster, Mississippi. Carl and his family seems to have changed their surname from Sjöberg to Seaburg already in Sweden which is quite interesting. Carl went to France from the port in Montreal, Canada, in October 4, 1918, with his unit, American Infantry, 150 regiment, 28 Division. Carl died of Pneumonia October 11th, and are probably buried at Sea, in the Atlantic Ocean, on his way to France. He is noted on the Tablets of the Missing in Suresnes American Cemetery in Paris, France.

The plan is to visit all of those 267 Swedish soldiers who fought for the American Expeditionary Forces on my trip to France this summer. They are all gathered in 6 cemeteries. May all of them rest in peace. Never Forgotten.

Above photos are from:

Ancestry.com, Arkiv Digital database, abmc.gov

As you know I am doing a research about those Swedish born soldiers who fought and fell at the Western Front in the Great War. Sometimes I open the door to look up those Swedish born soldiers who fell in the Second World War, just because I find it interesting but also to see if there are things to compare between these two groups, such as reasons, emigration and other things.

I have plans to also try to find if any family members of those soldiers who fell in the Great War, fell in the Second World War, but that will be another story.

If you search in some archives you sometimes have to try different alternatives. One way, in this case, is to start to search using the word “Sweden”, but that only works if the word is present somewhere in the text connected to the documents in the database. Often you get results connected to addresses in other countries instead of place of birth for the soldiers.

I will give you an example.

I was looking through the Canadian archive and found 511 inputs related to the word “Sweden” in the database containing military data regarding WW1, and 3 hits related to WW2. I have already, through my research, looked into those hits connected to WW1.

The individuals I find have the word “Sweden” somewhere in the description.

I decided to use another method by searching through a common Swedish surname like “Bergman” and then I get a hit on Carl Alfred Bergman, who I decide to check up on Ancestry. He is not born in Sweden but may have relatives connected to Sweden.

In the picture below you will see the name Bergman, but under his name I see a “Bergquist”. I haven’t seen Bergquist when searching in the Canadian Archive using the word “Sweden”, but will search for “Bergquist” instead.

I made a search for Bergquist and I found Bertil Wilfred Bergquist. That name looks Swedish and I decided to search for him on Ancestry, and there I found out that he is born in Sweden!

What does this mean? It means that you can’t give up when searching through some archives, you have to try different ways and methods.

Below I will tell you the story about Bertil.

Bertil Wilfred Bergquist was born in Sweden September 12, 1921 in the parish of Loshult in Skåne, and was raised by his mother Valborg Evelina Nilsson and his father Olof Wilhelm Bergquist. Bertil’s Swedish full name is actually Bertil Walfrid Bergquist, but he decided to change Walfrid to Wilfred, for some reason.

His father Wilhelm left Sweden for Canada in September 1923, and Bertil left later with his mother in May, 1924, giving some time to his father Wilhelm to create a Homestead in Cadillac, Quebec, Canada, before rest of the family arrived. Probably Bertil’s sister Greta Annalisa joined Bertil and his mother.

If you look closely in the document to the left you will see the location in Sweden, “Svinön, Kräbbleboda” where they lived before leaving Sweden. You also see the location of “Svinön” on top in the document in the middle.

Bertil was recruited in North Bay in Ontario, and it is interesting to read the notes from the interview, which you can find in the image to the left below.

Unfortunately Bertil lost his life during a mission over Germany a night in February 25, 1944. You can read about the situation through the documents below, and you can also see that he bacame a pilot officer February 23rd, and received his Operational wings for Gallantry after his death, which the family received through a letter with information in 1946.

Bertil and some other crew members was buried at the crash site in Germany, but Bertil is now buried in the final resting place in the village of Durnbach in the southern part of Germany. In the documents below you can read the inscription in German, from the burial site in Germany.

Bertil was one of many flight crew who lost their life at a very young age, and I am really trying to understand how it must have been inside the plane when getting hit, but not having the possibility to bail or do a controlled crash landing.

May Bertil rest in peace, you are not forgotten.